Buffalo Bills GM would cut non-vaccinated players if it meant getting closer to normalcy

Brandon Beane, the general manager of the Buffalo Bills, essentially put players on notice during an appearance Wednesday afternoon on the team-sponsored radio program "One Bills Live".

If they’re battling for a roster spot in training camp, the final determining factor regarding who makes the team, and who doesn’t, could come down to whether they are vaccinated for COVID-19.

“Yeah, I would, because it would be an advantage,” Beane said when he was asked by former Bills standout Steve Tasker, one of the co-hosts of the show, if he would cut a player in order to get the team closer to herd immunity.

Beane said all of the virtual meetings that took place in the offseason of 2020, and then the socially-distanced meetings that were held when the season began, were a hindrance for the Bills, and most likely all the teams in the NFL.

If getting the vast majority of the organization vaccinated alleviates some of those issues and brings more normalcy to One Bills Drive, Beane is pushing for that to happen.

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“These meetings were not as productive as before,” Beane said. “I mean, you guys saw it in the fieldhouse. We had three and four meetings going on, and sometimes you’re talking over each other, but it was the only way to pull it off and be socially distant, so it would be an advantage to cut a player and fall under that umbrella.”

The umbrella of which he speaks is the percentage of players, coaches and other staff members who would need to be vaccinated for the team to return to more normal procedures at their training facility. 

The NFL has not yet announced what that number will be, but in Major League Baseball, if at least 85% of the Tier 1 staff is fully vaccinated, then that group can go about life in a fairly normal fashion under relaxed health and safety protocols.

It means weekly rather than daily COVID-19 testing, the removal of masks and close contact tracking devices, and the ability to gather in public in the clubhouse and on team planes and buses. It also means they can eat and drink in public without restrictions.

“Still unsure about the masking, how that’ll go,” Beane said. “I think there’s going to be some incentives, if you have ‘X number percent of your players and staff vaccinated, you can live normal, let’s just call it, back to the old days.’ 

“If you don’t, it’s going to look more like last year. Social distant meetings, encourage meetings to be virtual, mask in the building, maybe even mask on the sideline, who knows. A lot of that is still to be determined. I hope that if those are the rules, that we’ll be able to get enough people vaccinated and not have to deal with all the headaches.”

The league and the NFL Players Association are already at odds over organized team activities, which right now are being performed virtually. However, the league wants in-person practice and meetings to start later this month, and the NFLPA has taken the stance that it does not want its players to return to team facilities at this time.

Cleveland Browns center JC Tretter, the NFLPA president, has been adamant about keeping players away, mainly because the constituency proved last season that it could get ready for training camp just fine by working out at home, studying playbooks, and attending meetings via Zoom.

New York Governor Andrew Cuomo continued his push for the vaccine when he announced Wednesday that fully vaccinated adults and their children under age 16 can attend professional baseball games and sit in special seating sections, with masks, at full capacity.

Non-vaccinated people would have to remain in socially-distanced sections at 33% capacity, and wear masks. The edict goes into effect May 19 at places such as Yankee Stadium and Citi Field in New York City, Sahlen Field in Buffalo, and Frontier Field in Rochester.

The Yankees and Mets are offering one free ticket for each individual who gets vaccinated.

Come the fall, this would impact Highmark Stadium in Orchard Park, the home of the Bills, and would permit more fans into the venue.

Follow Sal Maiorana on Twitter @salmaiorana.